A grailing we will go...

[morgan_dhu]

For anyone who found my previous rant about the Da Vinci Code nonsense interesting, my discussion of the literary histoy of the Holy Grail as presented in Richard Barber's book The Holy Grail: History of a Legend is up on my book journal: bibliogramma.

You know, I wouldn't have minded at all if Brown had said "This is a works of fiction. I've taken some historical people and things and reinterpreted them as is my right as a creator of works of the imagination, but this is literature, not history."

But no, he said it's all based on fact, when it simply isn't, and that makes all the difference to me.

Comments

[trinityva.livejournal.com]

Yeah. My mom went to a seminar by a priest debunking it, and was really confused that he'd care. I was confused that she wouldn't get why. She kept going "The priest kept saying 'It said FACT', why would that matter?"

O.o

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

What does "based on fact" mean anyhow? I thought that all historical fiction was "based on fact".

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that Brown was claiming that his book was based on fact. I couldn't get past the first badly-written chapter.

But from what you say here, it sounds as though Brown is cannily catering to that modern obsession with authenticity, that manifests itself in 'reality TV', and the insistence that fiction should be thinly disguised personal memoir (as manifested in the scandals over 'J T Leroy').

[pretzelsalt.livejournal.com]

I am glad to see this da vinci shit is driving other people insane as well.

I can't even flip to the "public broadcasting" channel on teevee these days because it will be some grail bullshit all spoken in the daddy white culture voice of "reason".

I need to add yer book journal.